Eloi vs Morlocks: A Battle for the Ages
by Torotyrannus15
Summary: Warning! Read the book before you read this!; Weena did not die! She was rescued by a strange, futuristic beast. Now she and her new companion seek to rally the other Eloi and lead an uprising against the Morlocks, and they may receive help from the most unlikely of places. Read description. Rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1: The Future is Wild

**Hello everyone! This fanfiction is about The Time Machine, and I really think there should be more out there than the very few I've seen.**

**First off, this story is based off of the BOOK, by H.G. Wells, not either of the movies. Wells was one of the best if not THE best science fiction author of his time, and this story is dedicated him. Did you know he actually coined the term 'time machine'?**

**Second, there are some elements in the following chapters that I've manipulated slightly in the TTM universe: first and foremost, the Elois' and Morlocks' appearences. I know that in the book the Eloi are described as(1 moment please)...puny, curly-haired, sandle-wearing midgets with 'singularly minute' ears, small mouths and thin lips, pointed chins, and 'large and mild eyes'. And the Morlocks are decribed as "little and ape-like".**

**Now I don't know about you, but those descriptions aren't very satisfying to your average Sy-Fy fan. That's why in my fanverse of The Time Machine, I have altered the looks of the two races into ones we all can easily imagine and I myself prefer; For the Morlocks, they will be depicted as they were in the 1960 movie of the book, because I think we all much prefer them that way.**

**The Eloi are more complicated; I have combined pieces of several media depictions of the Eloi into my own version. My Eloi have the basic body shape of the Eloi-like creatures from the episode of Futurama "The Late Phillip J. Fry", including the long ears. They have light pink skin, blonde hair like in the 1960 film that is short and curly, and they wear varying-colored tunics, also like the movie. They have big, blue eyes, and four digits on each limb, and their hands are boneless, as described in the book. Now that I think about it they kinda look like weird elves.**

**And thirdly, the book mentions that, besides the Morlocks and Eloi themselves, plus some birds generically mentioned, all other animals are extinct, including bacteria. I cannot be the only one who finds this as asinine as it is! Seriously? Of all the thousands of animal species on earth, humans are the only ones that survive what is likely the mother of all mass extinctions?! That makes about as much sense as sheep suddenly becoming the alpha predators of New Zealand! Clearly, I had to intervene. After all, in the book the Time Traveler hardly goes far from where he lands, so he obviously just didn't SEE any fauna aside from the Eloi, nor did he see any geographical regions beyond the Eloi paradises. I've taken to expand the world a bit in the TTM universe, and I have no doubt that it shall be an improvement.**

**Also, I may and likely will be going against realistic biology at more than one turn in this story, but, hello! This is Science Fiction! Keyword: fiction. Anything's possible!**

**Disclaimer****: I own nothing within the elements portrayed in The Time Machine, so, everything else then.**

* * *

The sun was high in the sky, which was a lovely shade of blue, and easing into the white of thin, wispy clouds near the horizon. The time was 802,701 AD, and it was the middle of the hot season, when the days were longest, the nights were cool, and the sunsets were simply breathtaking. The cool, starry nights were often alit with the blinking dots that were the glow bugs, and the lazy, sweet summer breeze blew in from down south.

The climate here was tropical year-round, thanks to a global climate shift a few thousand years ago, and the region was predominantly covered in lush, grassy plains with a few small wooded areas in valleys, and around there were these lush, wide-open gardens filled with fruits and flowers of all kinds, as well as odd, seemingly unnatural structures, where small, delicate, blonde-haired, pink-skinned creatures lived. The animals of this region knew about them for the most part. Hardly a day went by when one of the wild-roaming beasts didn't wander into these areas populated by tiny pink lightweights, who seemed to have no fear at all of them. The only time of year one wouldn't see them around was the annual migration west during the dry season, yet the homes of the pink creatures didn't seem to be affected. Whenever the animals did come across the homes of the pink midgets, they usually let them be. The herbivores wanted nothing from them, and the carnivores found their taste rather unpleasing. So the animals, at least the larger more standing-out ones, left the lush gardens and their playful, childish inhabitants alone.

One such creature was tentatively grazing out on the plains. He stood over 7.5 feet tall at the shoulder, and measured 26 feet long from snout to tail. The animal was named Sluff, and he was a beast known as a Ronlak, huge, furry creatures that resembled a cross of a sloth and a bear, with a head like that of a horse's, only more robust, with small, pointed ears. His long, furry tail dragged along the ground behind him, and his hind legs were thick and column-shaped with 3 short claws to hold his massive weight when he stood on two legs to reach leafy branches. His fur was dark cinnamon brown, with thin red stripes along his back and hindquarters, and two short stripes on his snout. Lastly, his long arms were covered in long, shaggy hair that also covered the paws. These shaggy arms and hands looked soft and inviting, but they also concealed a deadly weapon.

The Ronlak species originally were indigenous to southern Asia, but a recent change in climate, coupled with a small landmass colliding with what was once the Indian peninsula, pressured the Ronlaks to move, to find a new home elsewhere. After generations of continuous migration northeast, the Ronlaks soon spread across the Eurasian realm, and the last of them swam the formerly known English channel to make it here, among them were Sluff's ancestors. The species was quickly established, and they had no major predators in their new region.

Sluff absent-mindedly chewed another mouthful of grass as he heard the sounds of other animals. He wasn't concerned, as Ronlaks were the largest land animals in the region once known as the UK. He looked up from his grazing to see a small herd of antelopes galloping calmly in his direction. The gray-blue deer-like mammals had many predators out here, so they were always on their toes. Not wanting to bother them with his presence, Sluff swallowed his mouthful of vegetation and sauntered off, the antelopes warily watching him leave. Only when the Ronlak was a fair distance away did they relax and begin to graze.

Sluff was glad to be kind to the smaller herbivores. Unlike most animals, the Ronlaks possessed very advanced brains, and were very intelligent despite their beastly appearances. Some were smart enough to even wonder why they had such brainpower, when they clearly hadn't a lot of use for it. Sluff, however, simply enjoyed his intelligence for what he had of it, almost feeling sorry for the less intellectual animals, especially those little pink creatures that played and ate fruit all day.

Speaking of which, he could smell them now. Sluff rose up on his hind legs, standing over 15 feet tall, and sniffed the air. Indeed, the homes of the Eloi- for that was what they were called- were only a few kilometers ahead. Sluff decided to just pass through as he always did, letting the small curly-haired ones mill about their day. Sluff then caught a new scent in the wind; the scent of a predator. The Ronlak stiffened, remaining on his hind legs, scanning the hills and fields around him for the carnivore. Then, he spotted it: a furry, grayish-blue mass moving slowly and quietly through the tall grass.

Sluff grunted, alerting the hunter of his awareness of its presence. The predator stopped and slowly rose from the grass. It was a massive, wolf-like canine, bigger than a modern Clydesdale horse, and it was stalking the antelopes. The beast snarled deeply at Sluff. Sluff growled back, and stood his ground, assuming a defense position, spreading his arms. The giant canine continued to growl, but backed off, knowing what Ronlaks were capable of.

When the dog had backed away enough, it went back to stalking the grazing antelopes while Sluff relaxed and dropped back on all fours. It could be a dangerous world out here, sometimes even for Ronlaks, but that's the way things were.

Sluff groaned and set his sights on what lay ahead, turning his eyes away from the predator and her prey. Only minutes later, Sluff could hear the terrified squeals of the antelopes and the bloodthirsty howls of the wolf-like animal as it made its kill. Sluff then heard a higher yowling from the attack scene, and looked back to see that one antelope lay dead under the wolf-beast's paws and the rest of its herd was fleeing over the plain, and that an 8 foot-long fox-like animal had appeared and was fighting the wolf-animal over the carcass. As stated, antelopes were the staple for almost every large predator out here.

Sluff snorted and trotted onward, ignoring the sounds of one predator possibly fatally wounding the other, and the winner howling in triumph.

* * *

A few hours later, Sluff reached the crest of a steep hill, and as he reached the top, he sat down to rest and surveyed what lay before him. Below was a massive valley, and within it a vast expanse of lush gardens, brimming with bushes and flowers of all kinds under the shade of the numerous fruit trees spread about, and the songs of little birds filled the air. The endless vegetation was broken only by the large stone structures that appeared in several places, most cracked and beginning to crumble after thousands of years of exposure to the elements. Other than the songbirds that constantly fluttered about, the only movement came from the valley's only permanent inhabitants; the Eloi. The little pink-skinned, blue-eyed, curly-yellow-haired hominids were out and about, singing, dancing, and playing all over the place, not seeming to have a care in the world. Sluff snorted at the Elois' blissfulness as he stood and began his decent into the valley, intending to leave the little creatures be and not interact with them.

As the massive Ronlak reached the bottom of the hill, he could plainly hear the laughter and singing of the Eloi as they danced and played and did *ahem* other things in their veritable gardens of Eden; the only difference was that they COULD eat the fruit here. As Sluff passed along some flowery bushes, he stopped a moment to smell their sweet pollen scents, groaning in pleasure afterwards. He then grabbed a large mouthful of leaves and blossoms and chewed them heartily, finding them much more flavorful than the tough, dry grass of the hot season. As Sluff swallowed his leafy snack, he spotted a young Eloi male standing not six feet away from him on the other side of the bushes, staring up at him with a bunch of pinkish-red flowers gathered in his delicate little hands. Sluff locked eyes with the tiny person for moment, and then snorted loudly, making the Eloi scurry off, giggling and accidentally dropping a few flowers. Sluff rolled his eyes. The Eloi were used to wild animals, including Ronlaks, in their gardens, and vice versa, and contact between the two was rare, if it even occurred. Sluff ate up another few bucketfuls of shrubbery before continuing on his way, not paying the Eloi any heed, nor they him.

In the middle of the day, when the sun reached it's peak in the sky, Sluff decided to lay down for a nap beside an old, green ceramic statue of a thickly-built animal that looked like a hornless antelope with a Ronlak's head standing on its hind legs, partly covered in vines and ivy. Sluff slumped his huge body onto the grassy ground with a dull thud, and let out a yawn that was more reminiscent of a low roar. Sluff lowered his huge head to the ground, and curled his fluffy tail around himself before closing his eyes and drifting off.

* * *

Later, Sluff awoke with a loud, rumbling yawn. As the Ronlak heaved his massive body up off the ground and blinked his eyes to rouse himself, he realized that he was covered in garlands of numerous different-colored flowers, and two young Eloi were playing around on his tail. He grunted brusquely at the little people and whipped his tail away, and they ran back to their fellows, laughing childishly. Sluff rumbled in his throat, and shook his body to remove the numerous floral annoyances. Once he was sure that not one loose petal was left clinging to his fur, he went on his way, making a mental note not to fall asleep in the presence of Eloi again.

So went the remainder of Sluff's day in the Eloi valley. He ate from the green trees and bushes until his hunger was satisfied, and drank from the small rivers and streams that flowed through the gardens as the little pink people splashed in the shallows. During one of these instances, however, Sluff heard a commotion coming from about 100 yards upriver, where a group of Eloi were playing by the shore. He rose up on his sturdy hind limbs to get a better look, and saw that one Eloi, a female, had been pulled out further by the current and was crying out for help, yet the others did nothing to aid her. One of their own was drowning, and the Eloi didn't seem to care in the least! Sluff came back down on all fours, and was about to dive into the river himself, when he suddenly saw that some...thing had beaten him to it. Another creature had gone into the water and pulled the Eloi female out of the water before she drowned. Sluff had never seen an animal like this before in all his years. It looked like an Eloi, sort of...okay, not really. The creature stood on two legs like the Eloi, but was much taller, and wore strange clothing that looked nothing like the Elois' silken tunics. Its skin was pale and whitish, in stark contrast to the Elois' light pink skin tone. It had 5 fingers on each hand while the Eloi had only four, its hair was very short and dark-colored, unlike the Eloi's longer, golden-blonde hair, and its eyes were small in proportion to its head, and weren't blue.

Sluff cocked his head at the sight of this odd creature, but the Eloi it had just rescued seemed to love it instantly. The weird-thing then began walking back towards the Elois' old ruins, but suddenly looked back in Sluff's direction, and would've seen him, had the Ronlak not swiftly disappeared into the nearby trees.

Sluff watched as the strange, pale animal in strange clothing disappeared over the hill, but still pondered over it. What was it? Where did it come from? Why was it in an Eloi valley? Such questions couldn't be answered for Sluff, and probably never would be, but he decided to pay them no heed. Whatever that alien creature was, it probably wouldn't be joyful to see something like him come up to it. So with his mind made up, Sluff merely grunted and walked deeper into the small wood.

* * *

**So that's the first chapter, kinda short, just introducing our main character, nothing too big. Personally, I like how I fit Sluff into that scene where the Time Traveler saves Weena.**

**I promise future chapters will be much longer. If you've read my Animal Farm fanfic, you'll know not to expect regular updates. I'm just one of those people who jumps from one thing to another, but rest assured that no story will go unfinished while I'm still typing, no matter how long intervals are.**

**Oh, and that statue Sluff slept next to was of a horse, in case you didn't catch that.**


	2. Chapter 2: Fire and Rescue

**Hi there! Please review!**

**This chapter is the one where the story really starts. Now that my OC's been introduced, we can get into the plot. If you've read the book, you'd know that the Time Traveler ultimately loses Weena in a forest fire, and it's left that she had died.**

**'TIS UNTRUE!**

**This chapter shall reveal the story within the story of that chapter, bringing a much happier ending.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

For the next few days, Sluff the Ronlak remained in around the same area of the Eloi valley, hardly straying outside of a half-mile away from the white porcelain sphinx that rested in the center. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like staying near this place, almost like a part of him wanted to. Sluff had visited this particular part of the Eloi valley several times in his life, and always lingered for a few days at most.

He was out on a warm day's walk a few hundred yards from the aforementioned garden, watching the Eloi around here while enjoying a light lunch of sweet, dewy grass and fresh leaves. The Eloi a short way off were engaging in...certain activities on the soft, grassy field. Sluff had been watching the whole thing as he ate from a tree brimming with bluish-purple fruit pods; the male had playfully chased the female while lightly tossing multicolored flowers at her, and then they started kissing eachother all over their lips and cheeks. Then things had started getting serious.

One could not blame Sluff for seeming perverted. It was around that time of year for Ronlaks, and Sluff desired a mate to birth his children. It was uncommon for a father Ronlak to stay alongside his mate and young for long, but it did happen on occasion, whatever was the male's choice. While Sluff ate and peeped, he made the decision that he would leave the valley tomorrow to find a mate to bear young for the next generation. He wondered if he would have to fight another male this year for a female. If a male Ronlak found a female by herself during mating season, she was his automatically. But when other males were around, which they often were, two males would battle over the right to mate with any of the females present. Last year, Sluff had had to fight for his female, and nearly killed his opponent, and the year before that, he DID kill his opponent. He hadn't won easy, of course. On his chest was a long, blackened scar where the other male had struck him, but Sluff had been victorious in the end. He had been for the last 10 years.

Sluff smiled to himself as he reminisced over his mating battle memories, when he suddenly heard a low, rumbling growl from the bushes nearby. Sluff stiffened, wary of what could be hiding in them. He stood up on his hind legs, and was about to reveal his kind's secret weapon, when a huge creature clumsily rolled out of the bushes. It was a Ronlak. Sluff snorted in annoyance as he fell back onto his front legs again. This was no ordinary Ronlak. This Ronlak was smaller than Sluff and had a darker color scheme, and his hide was littered with leaves and specks of dirt from his constant rolling around in his sleep, and some of his fur was matted and crusted over from not being cleaned. The slumbering Ronlak groaned a loud snore as Sluff growled, not happy to see this particular Ronlak. Not in a good mood, Sluff stepped over to the sleeping Ronlak and gave it a hard whack on the head to wake him up. The Ronlak snorted and grumbled drearily as he rubbed the sore spot on his head, waking up. As the second Ronlak lazily blinked his green eyes, he growled a drawled-out greeting to Sluff, followed by an indolent friendly smile. Sluff merely groaned and rolled his eyes. This Ronlak was named Slog, and he was, unfortunately, Sluff's younger brother.

From the moment the two siblings first met, Slog had always been sluggish and lazy while Sluff had been lively and zestful throughout his infancy. Whenever Sluff wanted to play, Slog would either come up with a half-assed excuse or brush him off altogether. Sluff's brother was certainly very true to his name, as 'slog' meant 'lethargic' or 'lazy' in several animal languages, including that of the Ronlaks. Really the only time Slog was active(if you could call it that) was during mating season, but even then he sneaked about on the sidelines and tried to claim females while the other males fought, and he had yet to mate more than once, and that year the female only chose him because he was the only male who wasn't bleeding, half-dead, or aching to the point where mating was excessively painful, and not in an arousing way. Because of the violent mating battles, females had to wait for the action while their champions recovered, but since Slog didn't fight, he got numerous females, or at least he would, if they could stand the way he smelled, which they could not. Slog hardly ever even bathed himself! And he had of course been a deadbeat father to the one child he bore. Sluff almost always found his slacker of a brother in the Eloi valleys because Slog often hung out there to avoid predators, not for safety, but to avoid fighting and using energy.

Sluff angrily growled at Slog, who negligently retorted, and the two Ronlaks quickly launched into an argument of grunts, snorts, and indeterminable bellows, likely about Slog's sluggish lifestyle. This happened almost every time the two encountered one another.

Soon, Sluff had had enough of his lackadaisical brother, and angrily walked back in he way he had come with a vexed snort. Slog merely slothfully groaned and rolled onto his back, falling back into his lazed stupor in minutes.

Throughout the Ronlak brothers' meeting and argument, the two Eloi who had been going at it were still having fun, and now it seemed as if they were literally playing around with eachother.

Sluff grumbled to himself as he stomped back to the sphinx area. He frankly had no idea why his brother was so lazy and foolish all the time, or why he and his sibling were in such stark contrast to eachother.

* * *

Later that day, the sky was turning a glorious red hue as the sun slowly slid down below the horizon. Sluff was back at his temporary home near the white sphinx, at the edge of a small wood on a hill. He would sleep here for the night, and leave to find a mate in the morning, but he intended to come back after the annual business was finished. Again these questions plagued his advanced mind. Why did he always come here? Why did he stay? Was some force pulling him back here every time? He knew it sounded idiotic, but Sluff could swear that his animal instinct wanted him to be here. However it was nothing to exhaust his mind over now, for now was the time to sleep. Ronlaks preferred to sleep at night routinely, but they occasionally stayed awake to explore the night life if they desired, and could make up their rest during the day.

Sluff yawned as he looked for a comfortable spot to bed down down for the night, and soon found one amongst the underbrush and leaf litter. Sluff gathered some fronds, dead leaves, and branches to make the area softer to sleep upon, and once it was comfy enough, the Ronlak settled his huge body onto the bed of branches and plants to sleep the night away. He yawned again, his eyelids feeling heavy as he nestled his head into the soft fern fronds. He leaned his back against the roots of an ebony tree and slowly nodded off.

* * *

_Sluff awoke in a dream. He saw a blazing wall of fire in front of him, and a tiny, weak shape among the flames. Suddenly having no control over his body, Sluff leaped into the fires towards the tiny figure._

_In another instant, Sluff looked around him to see hundreds of other Ronlaks battling massive, scaly creatures as big as they were, and hundreds of small Eloi were rushing by his feet, attacking and fighting much larger creatures with pale blue skin and long, white hair. A blinding light suddenly shined down from a mountaintop in the distance, and Sluff could hear screams of agony._

* * *

Sluff awoke from the nightmare with a startled roar. Hyperventilating, the Ronlak looked around, wide-eyed, seeing that it was pitch-black night and everything was normal and quiet. The moon shone down on the wood in its eerie silvery-white glow, and only the sounds of crickets and other night critters hung in the air. Sluff could remember the dream vividly; what did it mean? Even though he belonged to possibly the most intelligent species in the world, he could not begin to comprehend the meaning of the dream he had just had.

He shook his head violently to clear his thoughts, and realized that he was hungry. He searched for the nearest object that could fill his stomach, and spotted some tasteful-looking leaves on the tree limb just above. Eyeing the greens hungrily, Sluff pushed himself onto his hind legs to reach them. Sluff gathered as many of the tasty morsels as his cheeks could hold and chewed them into a doughy pulp and swallowed. Like elephants from long ago, Ronlaks had large molars for grinding vegetation, up to 6 at a time, each the size of a brick. Ronlaks also had several small incisors for cutting grass and leaves, and their front canines were unusually sharp for herbivores, often used during mating battles to bite their competitors.

As Sluff ate, thoughts of his dream snaked their way back into his mind. It was especially the first part that haunted him. What reason could he have to leaping into fire? And what was that figure he had leaped after? Again with the questions he could never hope to answer.

Sluff had just about finished his late night snack, when when the wind shifted north, and a scent caught his nostrils. Sluff's eyes widened in dread. He knew this smell, and it meant that something very, very bad was coming. A forest fire. A big one. Smaller animals ran around Sluff's feet in terror, and the heavy scent of burning wood and leaves filled the air. Even now, Sluff could hear the crackling of the flames, and could see the bright orange glow between the tree trunks. Without hesitating, Sluff dropped to the ground and began to run, but stopped himself. If he ran out of the forest entrance in front of him, he would be heading downwind where the fire would surely spread. Sluff's instincts were screaming at him to run upwind, towards the fire. Now, if there was one rule worth following, it was "follow your instincts". So, with a roar, Sluff charged in the opposite direction, directly in the path of the fire.

The orange glow in the night intensified as Sluff approached the fire, and a wave of heat suddenly covered him. Sluff tried not to be afraid and focused on pumping his legs faster, but he could almost feel the intense heat upon him. Sluff suddenly looked ahead to see that all around him were burning trees and plants, and several frenzied animals that couldn't escape the fire's path in time. Sluff ducked as a huge tree crashed to the ground, knocking over several smaller trees in its wake. All of a sudden, Sluff ran into dozens of large, white-haired creatures locked in a frenzy as the light from the fire burned their large eyes. The creatures were running all over the place, blinded by the blaze, and numerous ones ran into the Ronlak's path and were trampled beneath his huge feet.

Sluff kept running. Everywhere he looked, the fire was burning everything to the ground, and the thick smoke choked him and burned his nose and lungs. It seemed the entire forest was ablaze! Sluff hurriedly dodged a burning branch and leaped over a fallen trunk, trying to keep his eyes ahead for a way out. Suddenly, his path was blocked when several burning trunks and branches crashed down in front of him, and he skidded to a halt just in time. Sluff looked around frantically for an escape route, and found a side trail to the left that wasn't blocked by flaming wood. Sluff hurried down the path, desperate to get out, and accidentally flattening several more of the white-haired bipeds who scurried about blindly into his path.

Suddenly, a huge blaze of fire exploded right in front of Sluff, who covered his face with his arm to protect himself from it. Before him burned a massive wall of fire that reflected in his eyes, and, though the intense heat from the fiery tongues nearly touched his skin, he stood frozen in terror. Suddenly, Sluff caught sight of a limp figure laying on the ground through the wall of flame, and recognized it as an Eloi! Sluff had no time to ponder why an Eloi had gone into the wood at night, but she looked like she had passed out. Sluff knew that she would die horribly if she wasn't saved by some miracle, so Sluff, suddenly having no regard for his own safety, decided to** be** that miracle.

With a thunderous roar filled with courage and defiance, Sluff charged, and time seemed to slow to a halt as he leaped through the fire, which quickly surrounded him, yet the only fire that affected him was the one blazing in his heart.

Sluff landed with a ground-shaking crash as his feet collided with the soil on the other side, not one hair on his body singed. Sluff came out of his courageous trance, and rushed towards the fainted Eloi on the ground nearby. Sluff looked her over; she thankfully had no visible injuries, and she had a steady pulse, but her breathing was erratic. Sluff then coughed gruffly. The smoke from the fires was choking them to death, so they had to get out. Sluff hurriedly stood up partway on his back legs, and gathered the Eloi female's tiny, delicate body in his woolly arms before he rushed headlong into the flames on two legs. Sluff couldn't move as fast on two feet as he could on four, but his arms were reserved for his precious cargo.

Soon Sluff came to a stop in a large clearing with fewer burning trees, just as the little Eloi he had saved began to awaken. Sluff held her in his hairy arms carefully as she came to.

**Weena's POV...**

_I was lying on the ground, darkness was all I could see. The last thing I remembered before passing out with fear was my friend, the Light-Maker, as I called him for his talent of producing hot, glowing balls of light on little sticks, holding me as I shivered in terror at the surrounding blackness. The Morlocks kept trying to grab me as we ran, but the Light-Maker wouldn't let them. That's when I fainted. Then, all I could feel was heat, but not like the heat of the Glowing Ball In The Sky. This heat hurt my skin, and it started getting harder to breathe. My subconscious mind didn't know what was happening, but I didn't like it._

_Suddenly, I felt my body being picked up by something big, and I thought it was a Morlock and that I was a goner, but it couldn't be a Morlock; this creature was much bigger. I could feel soft, fluffy hair against my skin, and heard the thundering beats of the huge creature's heart just inches from my ears. Then, I was jolted around as the animal ran with me in its arms. I didn't know that any of this was actually happening at the time, of course, as I was unconscious._

_Soon, I began to wake up, blinking my icy blue eyes to clear them. My head hurt, and as I looked around, I could see that everything around us was engulfed in the same hot light that the Light-Maker showed me, but now it scared me. Wait, us? I felt heavy breathing on my neck, and looked up to see a huge Ronlak staring right down at me. My eyes widened in shock as he stared into them._

**Back to Sluff...**

Sluff sat down as Weena wearily fluttered open her eyes and looked around them in delusion. She then looked up at Sluff, and the Ronlak locked eyes with her for several seconds. Weena's blue eyes widened, and Sluff thought that she was afraid of him, but was proven wrong when she grinned a huge and full smile and embraced his chest in a big hug, thanking him for saving her life. Sluff carefully hugged her back, not wanting to accidentally hurt her frail form with his nearly boundless strength.

Weena then looked around, and Sluff guessed that she was looking for the pale creature he had seen her with for the past week. Sluff looked around for any sign of the tall, oddly-dressed creature too, but could see nothing. With grim realization, Sluff concluded that it must have died in the fire, and, looking down at Weena, it seemed she had come to the same conclusion. The little Eloi then burst into tears, thinking that her only real friend was dead. Sluff was crushed to see such a cute, normally happy little creature break down and cry like this, so he did the best thing his could think of: he lowered his huge head down to her level and nuzzled her, the soft fur on his snout meeting the curly, golden-yellow locks atop Weena's head. As Weena cried, she wrapped her little arms around the Ronlak's chest, and Sluff softly stroked her back with his furry paw, her warm, salty tears meeting his soft belly fur. Sluff had never seen an Eloi display emotion like this before. Perhaps it had something to do with the pale creature?

Sluff and Weena suddenly heard a loud roar from the burning treeline. Sluff looked to see dozens of the white-haired creatures running towards them in a blinded frenzy. The moment Weena saw them, she cried out in fear.

"Morlock!" She screamed, hugging Sluff tightly for protection. "Morlock! Morlock!" Sluff understood her words, but he had never seen nor heard of these 'Morlocks', but he gathered from their sharp claws, teeth, and the Eloi's fear of them that they were dangerous.

Sluff roared fiercely at the sasquatchesque creatures and reared up on his hind legs with Weena still in his right arm, freeing his left. Though the blaze of the fire rendered their sensitive eyes useless, the Morlocks' smell and hearing where as good as ever, and they could hear a challenge. With ferocious snarls, the Morlocks attacked a creature over 10 times their size, snapping and clawing at his legs and sides. But Ronlaks were built to survive a predator onslaught, and there was thick, tough skin beneath all that fur. Sluff roared and swung his long tail at the Morlocks, knocking six of them on their backs with one hit. But more Morlocks were coming, relentless in their blind assault. Sluff held the screaming Weena tight as he whacked Morlock after Morlock with his tail, crushed them under his great feet, and batted them away hard with his free arm. But there were still too many!

Suddenly, one Morlock sunk its teeth into Sluff's leg, making him roar in pain and accidentally drop Weena! Weena squeaked in horror as a Morlock lunged at her, but Sluff, enraged beyond belief, roared and revealed the Ronlaks' hidden weapon from his furry hands. Moments later, the Morlock that was about to kill Weena was swung through the air and landed hard on a tree trunk, dead, but he was dead before he landed; the Morlock's body was nearly sliced in half, blood pooling everywhere as his guts hung out from his lacerated corpse. The other Morlocks stared in horror at the body, before turning back to gaze at what could have done something like that. Their eyes came to Sluff's paws, now protruding from which were three, six-foot long, hook-ended claws.

Sluff snorted loudly as he bared his monstrous claws at the Morlocks. THIS was the secret weapon of the Ronlaks. THIS was why so many males were gravely wounded during mating battles. THIS, was a Ronlak's weapon of last resort.

The Morlocks stared in horror with what little sight they had at the killing weapons that were almost as long as they were tall, and even Weena seemed frighted at the sight of the biological katanas that loomed protectively in front of her.

Suddenly, a burning tree broke from its roots, and fell right towards Sluff and Weena! But Sluff saw the tree, and, in one swift swing of his arm, whacked the trunk hard, his claws breaking it in two upon impact. The two halves of flaming log landed on several Morlocks, killing them. Sluff stared down the remaining ones, who screeched in horror and ran into the woods, most of them blindly running into burning patches and dying.

When Sluff was sure that they were safe, he retracted his claws into his hairy paws and looked down at Weena. The little Eloi looked spooked like in a Scooby-Doo cartoon, her blue eyes wide and her body still. Sluff, worried about her, turned his body so that their eyes met, deep concern in his and fear and uncertainty in hers.

Weena whimpered and tried to scoot back from Sluff, and Sluff's face fell when he realized that she was afraid of him. But what Weena did next, Sluff could not have anticipated: She stood up, dusted her pink tunic off, and looked at Sluff who was staring at the ground bleakly. Weena felt some kind of twinge inside herself, as if something long dormant was coming to the surface after millennia of being ignored: the feeling of compassion(**Get it? 'Cause the Eloi are descended from the rich people**). Seeing Sluff so distraught after thinking he had frightened her, stirred up these feelings in Weena that no Eloi had ever felt before. Weena then went up to Sluff, took his muzzle in her soft hands, and kissed him on the snout.

Sluff looked at Weena in surprise. She had just kissed him, and now was smiling at him. A big smile took hold of the Ronlak's features, and before he knew it, Weena was planting soft kisses all over his muzzle while he nuzzled her lovingly. Soon, Weena felt tired, so, ignoring the still raging flames around them, Sluff took the little Eloi in his arms and walked too the edge of the forest nearby, where he laid down on a small hillock away from the fire and anything that could burn, where Weena yawned cutely and fell asleep right in Sluff's arms, the long hair acting like a soft blanket. Sluff smiled as he heard Weena begin sucking her thumb.

A few Morlocks did approach the pair that night, but Sluff easily scared them off with a low growl or a quick show of his claws, and the sleeping Weena was not bothered.

* * *

**And there we go! I said further chapters would be longer.**

**And yes, I know I made Weena's POV part sound too intellectual, but have you ever tried writing from the POV of something stupid and primitive? Not so easy, is it? Also, this story's title won't make sense for a few more chapters, so just hang tight.**


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